Since the
release of Toy Story in 1995, one company has dominated animated films
- Pixar. They wrested the mantle of supremacy away from Disney, a
company that pretty much owned animation for 50 years. Goliath had
gotten the smack down from Samson, and he didn't like it.

And what do corporate Goliath's do to uppity Samson's? Why, they buy
them of course, which Disney did to Pixar at the beginning of 2006.
Since then the collaboration has actually been a good thing, bringing
more heart and skill to the Disney franchise, and apparently not
hurting the creativity or style of Pixar.

For proof, look to the 2008 animated film Bolt. Disney incorporated new
animation techniques to give the characters a realistic look, yet the
backgrounds have the lush look and feel of traditional hand painted
animation. It's one of Disney's best looking films of the last several
years, with an exciting plot that is fun for both kids and adults. It's
only failing was the use of 'real' actors for voice talent, especially
in the casting of John Travolta as Bolt himself. Don't believe me?
Exhibit A - the character that steals the film is Rhino the
hamster,
voiced by Mark Walton. Mark is a story artist with Disney, and has a
limited voice acting background, and yet he gave Rhino tremendous
personality.

This review isn't about Rhino though - it's about
the new maquette from Gentle Giant of the little dog Bolt. This is the
second of three Disney/Pixar films that Gentle Giant is producing
maquettes from. The first was Wall-E, which I reviewed
a few weeks
back, and the next is Ratatouille. These other two films actually got
two maquettes, Remy and Linguini, and they produced a Wall-E and Eva
maquette as well.

I haven't heard if Gentle Giant will be
pursuing other film characters, and since the deal is with Disney post
Pixar purchase, there may be separate licensing issues with earlier
Pixar films. As much as I'd really love to see this line continue and
expand to include other licenses (I'd kill puppies - or at least I'd
speak to them harshly - to get a Dreamworks
Kung Fu Panda in this style), I
suspect it's not going to happen. Initial response to these has been
cool, resulting in VERY limited editions. Yea, they always say
'limited' editions, but this time they really mean it. The Wall-E and
Ratatouille maquettes were limited to just 550 each, while poor Bolt
here is just 250!

Packaging - ***
With maquettes, you rarely get windows on the boxes, unlike busts. That
means you'll have to hope for the best as to the contents.

Fortunately, the interior foam
is extremely sturdy, and Bolt doesn't have any tiny parts that could
easily break in shipping.

There's also the usual cool
baseball card style Certificate of Authenticity that includes the
edition number. The edition number is also printed on the bottom of the
box, as well as the bottom of the maquette itself.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The more realistic style of modern CGI animation (as opposed to
something like the Simpsons or the old WB cartoons) allows for far more
detail in characters on screen. That translates into a lot more detail
in any physical representation of the characters, usually making them
better subjects for collectibles.

Bolt has sculpted fur, with very
good fine detail in the hair and edges. The work around the ears is
particularly nice, and it adds quite a bit to the visual effect.

The proportions are great,
capturing his slightly big headed appearance perfectly. The name tag
does say 'Bolt', but it's a bit tough to see without any sort of wash
to bring out the sculpted letters.

The bolt itself on his fur is
sculpted as well, rather than just painted on, and while this is
usually a nice touch, I think I'd have preferred them going with the
painted only look - that's the way it was in the film, and it would
have looked a little more natural on his back here. The sculpted edge
takes away a bit from the accurate look of the overall maquette, but
it's a very minor quibble.

Paint - ***
In person, there's not too many major paint issues. On close
inspection, you can find some slop around the collar, particularly
where the fur overlaps, and some of the cut edges around the eyes and
nose could be a tad cleaner, but you have to look pretty close to
notice.

My
two favorite aspects of the paint are the nicely done pink ears, and
the slight cream wash given to the white fur. The cream color adds some
depth to the sculpted fur, and takes away the harsh edge that a bright
white would have had.

At first, I had an issue with
the color of the bolt itself. My memory had it pegged as black in the
film, but I was wrong. They actually got the color
pretty accurate, although I still would have preferred it to
look like painted fur rather than a separate sculpted piece on his back.

Another nit is with the catch
lights in the eyes. They've added them, but with the glossy coat of
paint they used it's really not necessary. You'll notice in the very
first photo that the room lights are providing catch lights on both
eyes, and then there's also this perfect white circle off to the left.
Over time, I've become a bigger proponent of leaving off these painted
dots and allowing a glossy finish to create them more realistically.

And my final nit is with the
name tag. The word Bolt is sculpted there, but it's very, very
difficult to see in person. A black wash would have brought it out
nicely, and would have even been more screen accurate.

Design - ***1/2
The one negative you may have with the overall design is that the
maquette is attached to the base permanently. I know some people prefer
to have them as two separate pieces, but I'm fine with the single piece
design here, particularly since the base doesn't have an annoying name
plate. Both of these things are in contrast to their Wall-E maquette,
who a) did not come attached to the base and b) has an annoying name
plate.

I think the designed pose
captures the whimsical and mischievous attitude of Bolt perfectly. He
exudes confidence and optimism, with enough of a dynamic look to his
body pose that you also get the feel of action without anything extreme
or silly. You couldn't ask for a better designed pose.

My only quibble here is with the
base. Like Wall-E, they went as plain as possible - no problem there.
The only issue is
that I'd like consistency. With Wall-E, the base was boring but related
to the film and character and had a nameplate. Here, it's boring but
done in a very
traditional black style, having nothing to do with the character or
film, and lacking a name plate. Either give us environment type bases,
or give us plain black
bases, either use nameplates or don't (my preference), but make up your
mind.

Value - **1/2
These maquettes haven't been cheap, but unlike Remy and Wall-E, who
started out at over $100 each at retail, you should be able to find
Bolt at $90 or less. At least for now - I suspect that once people
figure out how limited these are, they'll get tough to find fast.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***1/2
While I have a few minor quibbles with the sculpt and design, it's
really the paint that's the only area that needs improvement. Even
there, the issues are fairly minor, and overall my impression of the
maquette on the shelf is extremely positive.

In fact, I'd line up to buy a
series of these from modern animated films in a heartbeat, especially
Kung Fu Panda or Monsters vs Aliens. Yes, they aren't Disney, but that
doesn't stop me from dreaming. We already have the Up vinyl figures
coming from Medicom, and they look about the right size to go with
these...

But if you are thinking about
picking these up, I'd do it now. With edition sizes like these they
won't last too long, and the folks buying them will be collectors, not
dealers, so even finding them on ebay in a couple months may be tough.

Related
Links -
I've covered lots of animated properties
over the years, but the most directly related here is the other
maquette by Gentle Giant in their Disney/Pixar series, Wall-E.
I'll also be looking at Remy very soon.

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